Jay's room, part 2

Since making my post the other day, showing off Jay's room, I've added a few things over the weekend!

Saturday night I was reading through one of the parenting magazines we get and saw an add for these really cute framed name signs for your child's door or room. After picking one out online with hubby, it dawned on me - why I don't just make one myself? I mean, I did go to college for graphic design and do it somewhat professionally... duh!

So I sat down for an hour or so, made one up, sent it off to our local Fed-Ex/Kinko's to be printed on stronger paper, picked it up Sunday afternoon and got a few things at Walmart to put it together (ie: a dollrod and shoestring) and here's the finished project on his door:

I love it!

I was also looking up dresser knobs online the other day too, looking up mushroom-like ones when I came across a photo on DeviantArt of someone who made their own Mario ones and duh! Just buy white knobs and paint them myself! So I picked some up Sunday while I was at Walmart and voila:

My creative way to let them dry, lol...

He also has a small reading lamp in his room next to the rocker so I can read him some books before bed and I decided to get around to painting that like a mushroom too:

 

And I also decided to make a vine going up into the clouds like there are in certain Mario levels that we can use to measure his growth over the years!

I remember being a kid and getting all excited about putting a new mark on a certain spot of the wall to show how I'd grown every so often and I'm sure Jay will love it too!

Our big weekend

So this past weekend was moving weekend as we moved everything over from our apartment into the new house.

Late Thursday afternoon we closed on the house, got the keys and went over so my dad and uncle could get in to do some "minor" work - my dad wanted to work on fixing the drywall where there was previous mold damage and my uncle was coming over to fix something on the electrical box as he's an electrician. I got to work painting Jay's room.

I also had appliances coming first thing in the morning so Jay had his first overnight at Grammie's to make things a little easier for me in the morning. Mom said he did okay, as I was in and out over there a few times earlier in the night. She said around 2am he seemed like he was fighting sleep, like he knew his daddy would be coming home soon (as he usually does during the week at 330am) and was trying to stay up to see him, thinking daddy would come get him since he didn't get to go home with mommy earlier. She said he woke up around 8am for food and slept some more in the morning but started to get real fussy as the afternoon went on so she brought him over to the house so he could at least see us and know we didn't abandon him with Grammie.

As for me, the washer and dryer were supposed to be coming between 830-1030am, however at 8am, right as I'm about to get in the shower, I get a call asking if I can meet them in 5min. We tell them to give us 15-20min so I skip the shower and head straight over there. They got there at 830am sharp, hooked both up and left about 10 minutes before the guys showed up with our fridge. The Comcast guy got there right at 1pm and was here for a few hours as he was having issues first with our massive amount of cable hook-ups (apparently some are satellite hook-ups!) and then having issues getting the HD box to work.

Hubby and my sis's friend started bringing stuff over in my dad's jeep and her friend's car a little after 4pm. We were able to get most of the boxes over that way, however it took til about 9pm or so. Saturday we rented a U-Haul for the rest of the furniture to get it over here. Again, that took nearly all day.

Sunday my parents came over again - dad to work on the drywall some more, mom to help with Jay so we could work on unpacking. I got my kitchen all done and by the end of the day I had Jay's room unpacked, our upstairs bathroom complete and the boxes in the living room sorted as that furniture won't start arriving until Tuesday this week.

Saturday and Sunday hubby and I went out shopping for necessities that we needed right away, such as new locks, among other stuff. Needless to say... good thing payday is Friday cuz we're kinda broke! lol...

So we have Jay's crib all setup and have been working on getting him to sleep in it and get used to sleeping in a room by himself. He's gone a few hours so far, which is good... we'll get him used to it!

Jay seems to be adjusting to the new house better than Tiger though - Tiger's been a bit of a scaredy cat, stalking around and keeping close to us. We brought her over Saturday night, as that was our first night staying in the house. We transported her via the cat carrier. She was okay in it til hubby got outside, then she started freaking out a little bit and was meowing her scared meow the whole way in the car. She seems like she's starting to adjust though!

The apartment... it's a mess and looks gross! We didn't clean much the last few weeks because of the move but yeah... there's cat dander in places we didn't know it could get! And paper and crap from packing all over... a small mound of kitty litter where the box stayed... yuck! Not looking forward to cleaning that but we have til the end of the month - hubby and I are probably going to go over some Sunday and get it over with.

I'll be sure to post pics once we're a little more unpacked and we have furniture in the living room upstairs!

"It's Time to Build a Word..." - kid's shows, moving & more!

Just realized it's been about a week since I last posted.

Not too much has really happened. We're officially closing on the house this Thursday at 230pm so by evening we will have the keys to our own house! Yay!

Jay, 2 months old
(8 weeks, 3 days in this photo)

Jay can fit into his 0-3 month clothes now as I've had him running around in the onesies this past week. He's also been able to finally wear his shoes too - they don't look like giant clown shoes on him anymore!

We also started using the size 1 Pampers Swaddlers diapers too and I like them much better than the Parent's Choice Walmart brand we were using. While the Walmart ones fit great, I've noticed the past week or so he's been getting a pretty bad case of diaper rash. The Pampers ones are nice as they're a lot softer on his skin and they're virtually leak proof which is nice as we've been having issues with him leaking lately.

He's become more alert in the past week or so and so we've started watching kid's shows on PBS/WTTW. He usually watches some Sesame Street or WordWorld while he eats his morning bottle and falls asleep during them for a few hours - he usually sleeps about 6 or 7 hours at night and then wakes up to eat  and falls back to sleep for about 3 or 4 more hours. During his afternoon bottle (after he wakes up) we usually watch either Clifford, Curious George or Arthur. I'm not let him get hooked or addicted to TV or anything, but since he is more alert now and we've noticed him watching the TV when it's on I don't see any problem with him watching early learning shows while he's eating throughout the day. PBS seems to have the best younger kid friendly shows too. I really like the WordWorld show - everything in the show, from characters to objects and buildings, is made out of the word of the character/object/building. Like the duck character is made out of the letters "d-u-c-k". It's really cute! And the show uses bright colors too so it gets Jay's attention.

 

Sesame Street's Abby's Flying Fairy School
segment with animated background - most
of the segments in the show now have
animated backgrounds!

Has anyone watched Sesame Street lately? To be honest, I'm a bit disappointed by the current format. Growing up, it took place on the actual Sesame Street with the adults and kids interacting with the puppet cast of characters with various short segments dispersed throughout the show. Well now, we briefly see the actual Sesame Street (at least from what I've seen in the episodes we've watched) and the whole show is in various segments. Many of the puppet characters are now standing in front of CGI animated settings rather than actual real settings (half the time the puppets look CGI animated too!). And between each segment is a red monster who's hanging out in some city park introducing each segment (such as Elmo's World and Abby Cadabby's Flying Fairy School) with a real kid. Maybe it's just me, but I miss the old school Sesame Street from the 70s, 80s, and 90s that I grew up watching myself as well as with my sister. This new "updated" version just isn't as good in my opinion.

I started back at work this past weekend, working a 4.5 hour shift (it was supposed to be 4 hours but we were busy and the store was trashed so they asked if I could stick around for an extra half hour). It wasn't too bad. They changed the keyboard on the registers so that took a bit of getting used to (I hadn't worked a register since the very beginning of January!) and by the end of my shift I was doing returns pretty well too. After maybe the 1st hour or so I was feeling comfortable with everything again, as far as working a register.

After my shift I bought Jay a pair of sunglasses as we had display of them but only a handful left in the 0-2yr size and he's going to need a pair for this summer. They're a little big on him, as his nose isn't big enough to keep em on his face yet, but he'll grow into them! They're $3 each right now (normally $4.50 or 2 for $6) if you want to pick some up for you kid. After my employee discount I got them for $2.41 total - not a bad price considering they're Children's Place and not Walmart! There's a cute pair of sandals I want to get him too but I think I'm going to wait until this weekend to get them for him as they're $9.95 and this weekend we have employee appreciation days where we get to take 40% off instead of 25%.

The next few days are going to be quite busy.

Today (Wednesday) Jay has his 2 month check-up where he's going to get several shots which I'm sure he won't be too happy about! Hopefully the doctor will cut back his calorie count and just let him eat the normal amount so we don't have to mix extra into it and the formula can last a little longer. I'm guessing he weighs close to 10lbs too - guess we'll find out for sure tomorrow! Also, I have work tomorrow night for a few hours in the evening.

Thursday, like I said, we are closing on the house and then that evening my dad's coming over to fix the drywall in the one room while I start painting Jay's room as I need to get the blue layer on first and then the brown and then do the detail. Friday I'm going to be over at the house alllll day as we have our washer, dryer and fridge being delivered and Comcast is being installed - I plan on working more on Jay's room and doing some basic cleaning before we start moving everything in. Also Friday we're borrowing my dad's jeep and transporting all our boxes over from the apartment and then going shopping for other household items we need to get. Saturday is the big moving day as we're renting a U-Haul and moving over all the bigger items. Sunday I'll be back at the apartment for a few hours cleaning up here.

It's almost time!

So we're in full swing of pre-moving!

Mound o'boxes

Boxes are taking over my living room!

Thursday while I was out running errands hubby had me pick up a bunch of boxes from U-Haul and we've been busy boxing stuff up since. Right now we've just have left the bathroom, the stuff in the kitchen we use, Jay's stuff, and the stuff in our closet to pack up, as well as a slew of stuff in the storage unit and of course decorative stuff that I need to get newspaper from my parents so we can wrap it up so it doesn't break.

Kitty is quite confused, although she enjoys jumping up on top of the boxes and even in some of them!

I was also productive today and got a lot done as far as moving preparations.

I secured a quote for homeowner's insurance through Farmer's (they had the best rate), got electric (ComEd) setup in my name and starting on the 6th, got our gas (Nicor) set up and just waiting for confirmation, and reserved a U-Haul truck for the day we're moving all the big stuff over to the house (the 9th). I also setup a new Comcast account over there and got their awesome online special for new accounts (basically what we have now, plus the HD channels and HBO for 6 months so we can watch True Blood and Entourage this summer!) and setup an appointment for them to come out and "install" it. I also learned that our water and trash are on the same bill and were started on the 16th - apparently the realty company that was selling our house had them put the water/trash bill in our name then as we were going to need to have the water on for the home inspection.

So aside from finishing up packing we just have to write up and leave our 30 day move-out notice and purchase our fridge and washer/dryer which we're planning on doing tomorrow (Tuesday) as well as purchasing some stuff we're going to need around the house - yay shopping!

In other news, Jay has been downing 5.5oz bottles - at least 2 a day! And he definitely feels a bit heavier too.

Baby smiles!!

His next check-up is his 2-month one next week (can't believe he's already 2 months old on Friday!) and I'm pretty sure the doctor is going to have us reduce his calories per oz from the 24 down to the normal 20 and if not I'm going to ask, as he's averaging a little over 20oz of food per day which I'm sure is a lot more calories than he needs!

On the 14th we're going up to the children's hospital in Madison for further kidney testing, including a more advanced ultrasound (which his urologist said in some cases they can tell what's causing the blockage from this ultrasound) and some test I read about that involves a catheter and they give him some liquid and watch how it empties from his system or something... I forget the specifics! Not going to be fun for him and it's likely to be a long day too - we have to be there at 9am and it's a little over an hour drive so we need to leave a little after 7am... the said the ultrasound could take up to an hour while the catheter test is obviously going to take awhile.

Jay's been a little farting machine too lately! It's actually quite amusing!

Oh! And his birth announcements arrived today too - we'll probably send them out next week or the week after we move and get somewhat settled.

He peed the bed - or should I say our bed - the other night. I was laying down to relax and was snuggling with him when I sat my arm in something wet underneath him... mommy fail! Apparently I didn't fasten the one side of his diaper tight enough and he leaked a nice size puddle on our bedsheet! Doh!

He also seems to enjoy watching/listening to daddy play Call of Duty as he was sitting perfectly fine in his bouncy seat while daddy was playing but the second he was done he got fussy! LOL... He also LOVES looking at himself in the front-facing cameras on daddy's phone (an HTC Thunderbolt) and tablet (the Samsung Galaxy Tab) - it's pretty funny! Take that mirrors! lol...

Passed out on mommy

He's been sleeping a good 3-4 hours a night in the bassinet most nights before he ends up sleeping on me for the rest of the night. It's progress. I'm hoping maybe his crib will be more comfortable for him once we get it setup after the move.

I've also resorted to letting him sleep on his tummy in there too. He seems more comfortable than on his back and he sleeps a lot longer too - on his back he doesn't last long before he's awake and howling. Plus, if he sleeps with his binky in his mouth, it doesn't fall out as easily. While they ingrain the SIDS guidelines and warnings, I'm not too worried about him on his tummy as he's got lifting and turning his head down pat and when he is on his tummy he's automatically got his head turned to one side or the other. I do check on him throughout the night though just to make sure he's okay and before I drift off to sleep I often look over and make sure he's not faceplanted everytime I hear him move around in there. They also say co-sleeping is a no-no too, but we've broken that "rule" plenty and we're doing just fine with it - sometimes you have to do what you have to do so everybody wins and is able to get a decent amount of sleep! We'll try his back again when he's sleeping in his crib in the upcoming weeks - a friend suggested it could just be the Pack n Play mattress isn't comfy (her kids hated it) and that he might sleep better on an actual crib mattress, so we'll see.

House stuff and more!

So we had the home inspection this past Monday and it went well - no major surprises, just a few smaller things that we can do ourselves or have my dad and uncle help out with.

The only issue on the main floor is that the thermostat cover or whatever needs to be replaced - you can adjust the temperature and it works but the numbers on the panel don't work - they said you can replace that for about $20-50. On the deck, we need to put support posts or something under the ends of this section that juts out (it seems to be an add on for a grill) as there's only the support beam in the middle and not on the sides, making the edges not safe. Downstairs is our main issue - there's a section along the baseboard in the lower level bedroom where it looks like there was mold or water damage. They said it's an easy fix though as we just have to pull up that section of the drywall, patch it up underneath and then replace the drywall. And they said on the outside we can just take a hoe and level out the slope on the yard above so that it's not sloping towards the house there. The only other thing is an issue with the electrical box - hubby got the details on that and they said it'd be something real simple that my uncle could take care of no problem (he's an electrician).

This in a light tan/mocha color

We went out and bought our living room furniture too, or well, at least put a deposit on it. Slumberland has their Mega Sale - 55% off stuff - going on through this week and they had some really nice 5 piece living room sets (a sofa, loveseat, 2 end tables and a coffee table) for under $1000 so naturally we jumped at the chance as it really is a good deal and we need furniture for our front room upstairs since the majority of our furniture is going in the rec room downstairs. We're planning on putting it on our credit card but have to wait til after we close so it doesn't screw up hubby's credit any, but that works out as they have to order it from the manufacturer warehouse and won't be in til around our closing date anyway.

We're also shopping around for a fridge and washer/dryer too and I plan on painting Jay's room all Super Mario Bros-esque - I'll be sure to post pics!

We're planning on closing the first week of April - around the 4th or 5th I believe. Can't believe how soon it's happening! We already started packing and I'm getting us more boxes tomorrow too as we ran out of bigger ones.

As far as Jay goes...

I need to call back the children's hospital in Madison tomorrow and set up a time next week for his appointment up there.

He also decided the bath tub needed to be turned into a fountain the other night as we just finished bathing him. Right before we had a chance to pick him up out of the tub he made a bit of fountain... and then he did it again 2 seconds later! Hubby and I were cracking up, as the surprised "whoa" face he made while doing it was the icing on the cake!

Jay also had a big day on Monday - my mom meets with a group of ladies most Monday mornings for coffee and they were throwing her a Grandma Baby Shower and had invited Jay and I to come. He got passed around from lady to lady... needless to say, he slept pretty good the rest of the day!

He's also increased his feeding too, eating usually 3.5oz, although there's been a few times he's done 4, 4.5oz and earlier today he finished off an entire 5.5oz bottle!

Late night updating

So I should be sleeping since Jay's asleep and we have to be up early but I'm not really all that tired right now...

Friday was my post-partum check-up at the OBGYN and it went very well!

They weighed me and with shoes on I'm down to 172 from my max pregnancy weight of 193 (with boots on). My pre-pregnancy weight was 162 or 164 (I'm not entirely sure which), so I'm not too far away from getting back there! At least 20lbs in 6 weeks though... wow! I already need new jeans too - my size 12s are too loose on me and the only pair of 11s I have run small so I can't quite fit in em.

The nurse practitioner I met with said my tear healed beautifully - she said to be honest she couldn't even tell I had had a tear, that's how well it healed! She gave me the "okay" for everything though and wrote me a note so I can get back on the schedule at The Children's Place and she filled my prescription for my birth control pills. They want me to come back in 6 months for an annual pap as well as a blood test to check for the gestational diabetes stuff rather than have to sit around and do the drink again.

Without going into too much detail, since we got the go ahead, hubby and I had a go at things right away. Everyone had warned me it was going to hurt A LOT, and I'll admit, it did hurt a little bit however we eased into it and it wasn't too bad... honestly, doing it after my LEEP surgery hurt a lot worse!

This weekend we started packing up our apartment in anticipation for our upcoming move in a few weeks - we made a pretty nice dent in things!

We bought a basic 1 gallon humidifier too at Walmart - it seems to be helping, Jay hasn't woken up with a stuffy nose since we started using it!

We also gave Jay his weekend bath last night... and at the end of it, Little Man decided the tub needed to be turned into a fountain! It was the funniest thing ever and his facial expression (his surprised "whoa" face where he gets all big and wide-eyed and his mouth makes an O shape) made it even funnier! And he didn't just shoot pee up once, but twice! Hubby and I both about died laughing! Seriously, considering he only has 1 working kidney at the moment, he pees A LOT and seems to get a good range on it too!

This morning I'm taking Jay to Grammie's Grandma Shower that her ladies she meets with on Mondays for coffee are throwing her - they were going to throw it at the beginning of February but Jay was born around the time they had originally planned and then we had the hospital mess too when they rescheduled it... since he's here now though they've invited me to come and bring him too so we're doing that early this morning. Then later today in the afternoon we have our home inspection - hopefully everything goes well with it!

Hospital follow-up

Today we had our follow-up doctor's appointment since being discharged from the hospital a week ago.

They weighed Jay as being 7lbs, 6oz, which seems to be consistent with the scale the visiting nurse has been using and continuing to show that it seems Jay is putting on an ounce a day! At the rate he's going, we should be out of newborn sized clothing and finally into the 0-3 month sized ones within 2 weeks or so! How exciting as we have a bunch of 0-3 month sized stuff as that's mainly what we were buying as we thought he was going to be a bit bigger, like at least 8lbs!

Doc was looking over all the lab test results that came back too - he was going to double check with the doctors we had at the hospital, but he said from what he could tell everything looked fine.

He said that Jay looks a lot better than he did last time he saw him and that he said he finally feels a lot better about him too now that he's put on some weight and is finally growing like he should. He wants us to come back in a week just to see how he's doing, if he's continuing to progress. Then hopefully we'll be back on the regular doctor's visit schedule.

Tomorrow we're signing the final contract to the offer on the house and then we just have to wait for the loan to go through and then we can close on it. Our lender said it shouldn't take more than 3 weeks, but you never know. Hopefully we'll be closing by the end of the month if we're lucky and moving in right away too!

A day to celebrate

Today we had a number of things to be happy about!

First, we had Jay's first appointment at the urologist. Since the hospital did an ultrasound on his kidney last week while we were there, today was more just a meet and greet with the doctor as he said there was no need for another ultrasound on it so soon. He did say though, when I asked, that it doesn't look to be severe at all - more mild in fact - and so we don't need to talk or think about surgery at this point yet. So yay for that! He has coming back in 2 weeks for another ultrasound on it though and it looks like we're just going to be monitoring it that way for awhile in hopes that as Jay continues to grow it'll just naturally unblock itself.

Then, throughout the day I had several interactions with our realtor. He called me back this morning while I was feeding Jay, apologizing for not getting back to us yesterday as he somehow missed the message that we had called when his meeting ran long and he just got it this morning. We told him the counter-counter offer of $70k was fine, but he did said he was going to push for the later closing date just because he wanted to make sure we had enough time for the loan to go through. At lunch I got an email from him with an attached amendum from the bank/seller saying for us to look through it and call him to set up a time to sign it. Then he called me a little while later going over a few things in it (I hadn't had time to read through it yet) and also said that he was able to get them to accept our previous offer of $68k! How neat! Also, hubby dropped off the rest of the paperwork the bank lady needed and she emailed me to confirm that we were good to go!

So it looks like we'll be moving by mid-April at the very latest! How exciting!

Also this afternoon we had our next visit with the visiting nurse to check Jay's weight - he's up 3 more ounces (now 7lbs, 3oz)! Yay! I hope the doctor is pleased with his weight gain when we go back in for his post-hospital follow-up on Monday.

4 weeks come and gone!

Tomorrow morning Jay is going to be 4 weeks old already! I guess losing a week, stuck in the hospital really made it fly by!

So they say by the end of the first month he should start holding his head up... well, he's been working on that since he was 3 days old and he's gotten quite good at it, being able to hold it straight up on his own for several seconds.

He's also sort of getting into a routine - we go to bed around 330/4am when daddy gets home from work (Jay is usually finishing a bottle or just recently finished one by this point). Jay wakes up (usually) around 6am wanting to eat more and then again around 9am when daddy is leaving for work. Then we go back to sleep til about 11 or 12 and he eats "lunch" before taking a short nap, eating again around 3pm and then he passes out til 6 or 7pm before eating again. He usually eats again between 9 and 10pm, falls asleep and then eats again around midnight or 1am before sleeping a bit more until it's time to eat again.

The last 2 nights though he skipped the 6am feeding and just slept right through for a good 5/6 hours straight! He sleeps in the bassinet for a few hours (which is better than none like before!), but usually ends up on my chest, snuggling with me.

He's becoming more aware of things too - he likes to look around and take things in (in the hospital one night, I was sitting on the chair at an angle where he could look out the window in the door and out into the hallway - he was very intrigued by people walking past!) and when I read to him now he looks at the pictures on the pages too! He's aware of daddy - there were several times last night where no matter what I did he wouldn't stop crying and fussing... I passed him off to daddy and within a minute or so he was calmed down - he just wanted daddy and not mommy! Doh!

Tomorrow is his first appointment with the urologist... I'm hoping his enlarged kidney is only mild or moderate and they just want to monitor it instead of it being severe and him needing surgery to get rid of the blockage!

We've had several counter-offers already on the house - they came back to our $65k offer with $71.3k... we countered with $68k and today they came back with $70k which is what we were wanting them to drop it to! I didn't get to speak to our realtor today though to confirm the offer, as he sent us the email and said he was going to be in a meeting all afternoon and to call him between a certain timeframe as he had a house to show later in the day too... I called but the receptionist said he was still in his meeting so I left a voicemail and sent him an email saying to call us when he could... so we're waiting. Which sucks. But unless something major falls through, we should be closing on the house near the end of the month and moving in ASAP!

We also got some fun stuff coming up within the next week - I'm excited!

My college roommate is coming up from Dallas to visit for a week or so and get some wedding stuff done as they're having it up here. She's got an appointment for us bridesmaids setup at David's Bridal this Sunday so we're meeting for lunch beforehand and then trying on dresses! Then on Wednesday her and her fiance are coming to us to visit and meet Jay - she said she plans on buying him Converse shoes as he grows up. Fine with me - they're cute! Friday they're having an engagement party with their friends up here at Gamewerks in Schaumburg so hubby and I are planning on going. The following Sunday is my good friend's daughter's 1st birthday party that we're invited to, so that should be fun! Our kids (her son just turned 4, her daughter is turning 1) are likely going to know each other pretty well as we're planning on going for regular walks this summer and doing other stuff together once the kids are a little bigger (like play days at the children's museum, etc).

A house to call home

So I mentioned last week we had been doing some house hunting lately.

Well, the house we were planning on making an offer on... our realtor called us this past week to inform us of the situation with that one... apparently there's been several offers on it, all over $70k, however the bank that owns it has been taking so long - up to at least 3 months - to get back to anyone on it so people keep backing out. He said there is currently 1 offer on the house, however it's possible they too will back out after waiting more than a month or 2 on the bank so if we put an offer in now we'd be the back-up, however who knows how long it would take for the bank to get back to us and we're trying to find something within 90 days of when we got pre-approved so we don't have to re-run the credit again so we risk cutting it close. He said he doesn't want to tell us what to do, but he did say it could take months for our offer to get accepted due to how slow the bank that owns it is being.

The other house I mentioned, that we first saw at an open house, well, like I mentioned they went ahead and bumped the price up almost $10k more and started finishing the basement off. While we like the house and the features, we were hoping to get something closer to $70k to keep our payments down and we really doubt we could talk them back down to $75k with the finished basement, as $75k was the original price without the basement finished. Even $80k would be pushing it we think...

Quite possibly our new home come April/May

So we thought about it, and honestly, the first house we saw that we really liked, the only major thing I wasn't fond of was that the main floor only has 2 bedrooms, with the 3rd being in the basement. But right now, anything is better and bigger than our 1 bedroom apartment and we really need to find something and move soon as things are just too cramped here - with all Jay's baby stuff, we're running out of room and he really needs a room of his own too. Thinking about it, it's nice for our first home - a 1 car attached garage with an additional parking spot in the driveway, a fenced backyard with a deck and a decent sized yard with a firepit, a kitchen with a stove, microwave and dishwasher, a pantry and nice counterspace, 2 full bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, a finished basement with a bar... move-in ready with us only needing to purchase a fridge, washer and dryer and eventually more furniture - not bad at all actually! And our realtor informed us the other day that the price dropped too.

We had him draft up an offer - we're starting with $65k, thinking we'd be able to get it for close to $70k if they counter-offer. He wrote in a closing date of April 15 and said this company that owns the property is usually very good about getting back to people within a few days too. We just have a few things to turn in to the bank lady this week for our loan and I need to get the offer contract back to our realtor as he dropped it off for us to sign and it looks like we're good to go!

Wish us luck!

A house-hunting we will go!

As I mentioned, when I got the call from my clinic that they wanted to induce me that night, I was on the phone with the lady from the bank, finally getting pre-approved for a home loan.

Of course we put it on the back-burner for a few days as we were a bit pre-occupied with Jay's early arrival but I got in touch with our realtor and we started looking at houses last weekend, as things are really cramped now and I'm sure Jay would sleep better on his own if he weren't sharing a room with us - it's hard when he wakes up fussing in his sleep for us (well, mainly me as I'm suddenly a light sleeper now) as we're in the same room. Having his own room where he can wake up and fuss for a few minutes before falling back to sleep on his own would probably be good for him, but right now he hears most noises we make and vice versa.

Our main criterea is a ranch with 3 bedrooms, within a certain price range, at least 1 bathroom if not more, and we'd prefer an attached garage - fitting 2 cars would be great. Of course we're flexible though and we've looked at quite a bit.

We spent the past 2 Saturday's out looking and today we went back through four of them with my dad tagging along today, checking things out more as he's got an eye for what needs to be fixed, etc.

The first day we went out we were really hoping this one down the street from us was in decent shape on the inside, but unfortunately it was going to need a lot more work than what we'd like to do - the person who listed it must have a strange concept of the term "move-in ready" as clearly it was not! A lot of the houses we looked at were like that - needed quite a bit of work to them. We don't mind doing a little bit of work when it comes to cosmetic stuff and cleaning, but major stuff and repairs... yeah, no thanks! There was one we looked at yesterday too where in order to get to the basement, you had to go through the garage! Another one you had to go through a bedroom to get out the backdoor!

The first one we went back through today was a really nice one, only a few years old, that had a lot of work put into it, however, while it was listed as a 3 bedroom, only 2 of the bedrooms were on the main floor while one was in the basement. It also only had a 1 car attached garage. It did have a nice finished basement though with a bar in it and a 2nd full bathroom and the only things we would need to get would be a fridge, washer/dryer and eventually a water softener. It would be perfect for us for a few years, however if we have another kid in the next 5 years, the bedroom situation isn't ideal.

The second one we went back through was one we looked at yesterday. It was smaller a ranch, but doable - 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom upstairs with a smaller one in the basement which had a finished rec room and bonus room as well as a bar. It also had a detached 2 car garage and hardwood floors. The upstairs tub would need replaced though or at least have some cosmetic touches done to it as it looked a bit gross, and the kitchen was pretty small - no dishwasher and less counter space and cupboards than what we currently have. Also, our realtor told us that it's currently in the "short sale" process meaning it could take 6-8 weeks to hear back from the bank that's taking it over and we could potentially run into problems/headaches in dealing with that.

The next one was one my mom informed us about last week, having opened the Sunday paper and saw the open house listing for it. Hubby and I went over took a look at it - the realtor informed us that they were planning on finishing the basement with a rec room, bonus room and a bathroom and bumping the price up about $10k. The main floor was nearly identical to the one I just mentioned above, as it was across the street and a few houses down, however the big difference was that there was an actual dining room separate from the kitchen and that the kitchen was bigger with more counter space. It also has a 1 car detached garage. While we would like a finished basement, them adjusting the price by $10k for it is just absurd as my dad could get it done for about $5k or less, not to mention my friend's husband is a manager at Menards and they had mentioned before that if we ever needed materials they could get it for us with his discount, so we'd be saving on that too. It was a nice house though, but eventually we'd have to put the money in to finish the basement. We'd also have to buy a washer and dryer.

The fourth one we went back to today, it's in a quiet neighborhood and backs up to one of the local golf courses. The driveway is a little steep but that's not that much of a deal breaker. It has a 2 car attached garage, finished basement with a rec room and 2 bonus rooms, washer/dryer on the main floor, decent sized kitchen with a dishwasher and decent cupboard/counter space. It also has a nice entryway when you first walk in and a fireplace in the main room and a deck off the back. 3 bedrooms, 2 bath - one of which was a really nice master bathroom! The main issues with this one though is that the previous owner (it's only 15 years old) obviously had a dog that he let do its business wherever as most of the carpet needs replaced. It could also use some painting done on the interior and we'd need to get a fridge. Other than that though, it was the largest of what we've seen that we've liked. We're considering making an offer on it, pending if our lender thinks we can write in an allowance on the loan for the carpet, paint and fridge. It's also been on the market for awhile so we can probably get it for less than the asking price too.

Jay's Birth Story

Well, a lot's happened this past week, that's for sure!

Thursday I got up at 630 to be at my doctor's appointment by 8am - we had a blizzard here as I've mentioned and fortunately hubby had dug my car out for me Wednesday night. I was anxious to talk to my doctor about the results regarding the hospital ultrasound, however after driving across town, I get to my clinic only to learn that while everyone had said Thursday, they scheduled me for the 4th - Friday. Kinda annoying...

I went home and eventually got around to calling the bank lady to see if she could run hubby's credit again and see where we were at as far as that goes. She said it looked better but would call me back shortly as she wanted to see if we qualified for this 1st time home-buyers program through IHDA. She called me back that afternoon with the good news - that we qualified for that program with hubby's current credit score and that she would go ahead and email a copy of a pre-approval letter so we could start looking at houses, we just need to get in some extra paperwork for the program and she said she could probably approve us for more than she did after we get the tax stuff in.

While I was on the phone with her, I got a voicemail from my clinic saying to call them back before the close of the day (5pm). It was only a little after 3pm but I promptly called back, expecting it to be some bad news regarding my Strep-B coulture they took last week.

But nope - they said the high risk doctor at the hospital that did my ultrasound spoke with my doctor today and they were really concerned about Jay's lack of growth over the last 7 weeks, as it was showing he had gained less than a pound, and since I was already 37 weeks they wanted me to go ahead and get to the hospital to deliver him that night!

There was a bit of initial shock - sure I had been wanting to him come anytime now, but still, it was a bit of a shock as I wasn't expecting an induction THAT soon - it had sounded like it would be at least another week!

I quickly got ahold of hubby and told him both of the good news - that we finally were pre-approved for a home loan and that we were having Jay that night. He was home by 4pm as I was finishing putting a suitcase together. We stopped by McDonald's real quick so I could grab an early dinner, at the suggestion of a friend of mine, as once they started to induce me I wouldn't be allowed to eat until after delivery and who knew how long I'd be in labor!

We got to the hospital at about 5pm however we had to wait out in the waiting room til about 530 as they didn't have any available rooms open due to all the Blizzard Babies from the day before that were still popping out.

Once we got in a room, they started all the basic admission stuff and my doctor checked my cervix to see if I was dilated any - turns out, I was already 3cm dilated! Didn't really surprise me too much as I had been feeling some pressure on my cervix the past few days - we figured it was just him dropping.

They didn't start the induction via pitocin until about 1030pm as they wanted to move me into one of the bigger delivery rooms.

The first few hours were pretty boring. The contractions, while 2-3minutes apart, weren't painful at all and honestly I was bored. They said my contractions were looking fantastic though! It wasn't until about 4am did I really start feeling them and back labor kicked in, which hurt quite a bit! I requested a hit of dilauded as the back labor with the uncomfy bed with the bar that breaks the end of the bed off for delivery in my back it was just too much. Can't say it helped too much, but it did make me sleepy which helped as I could zone out easier between the contractions.

Between 6 and 7am is when it started getting bad. Hubby was asleep up until this point but woke up to help me focus on breathing. I started feeling sick at one point, like I do when my blood sugars drop - all weak, dizzy, faint, breaking into a cold sweat... mom said it was body most likely going into shock. I requested a cold compress which helped a little bit.

Just before 7am I requested to go to the bathroom, again (I had been going every few hours it seemed and since I was hooked up to IVs and a monitor I had to have someone help me get up and to the bathroom each time). While waiting for the nurse to come, my water broke... and with it I think my bladder went too. Before the nurse let me go to the bathroom she checked my cervix again to see if I had made any progress (last time she checked was around 3am and I was about 3.5cm and she commented that Jay had a ton of hair on his head). I was 7cm dilated by this point - almost there!

Going to the bathroom still was a mistake though as the contractions suddenly got A LOT worse, maybe a minute apart. As soon as I sat down on the toilet I started to freak out - with each contraction my body was telling me to push - it honestly felt like Jay was right there, about to come out and I was really scared I was going to have him on the toilet like you see some of the girls do on that "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant" show! I started calling for the nurse who kept telling me just to focus and breathe and came and got me. She checked my cervix again - in the time it took to get me to the bathroom and back I had apparently dilated to 10cm and Jay was on the verge of coming out!

She went to page my doctor again, as 10 minutes prior when they called she said she would be over as soon as she dropped her daughter off at school and well, no one expected me to dilated the last 3cm THAT quickly!

I was freaking out though as the nurse had stepped out, my doctor wasn't there yet and while the contractions were horrible and every minute now I was trying NOT to push despite my body telling me to.

Fortunately the doctor got there quick (obviously she didn't end up taking her daughter to school) and they got me going - took about 4 contractions with 3-4 good pushes each time before Jay was out.

Jaydran Alexander Johnson was born on February 4, 2011 at 7:26am weighing 6lbs, 7 oz with a length of 19inches and a full head of hair! No Downs Syndrome and he seems to be perfectly proportioned!

Jay and daddy - I <3 this picture of my boys

Hubby went over to the other side of the room with the nurse that was cleaning up Jay while the doctor stitched me as Jay tore me a good 2cm. Mom said she thinks the doctor was surprised by his weigh, considering the ultrasound earlier that week claimed he was only 5lbs, 12oz at the most!

After mommy and baby were both cleaned up they moved us to the mother-baby ward where we stayed til Sunday afternoon. I spent most of the time in bed, as my stitches hurt down there a little and I didn't want to do too much anyway. We had family in and out, which was nice, although neither of us got much sleep either night - hospital beds just aren't that comfy and hubby didn't figure out that the recliner turns into a pull out bed til Saturday night. Plus that first night I had the nurses coming in to check on me and Jay every few hours, waking me up for one thing or another.

They did his circumcision late on Saturday, saying he slept through it, which was good! Our family doctor seemed a bit confused by this supposed kidney issue of Jay's, as he said he seems to be peeing just fine! They did end up doing an ultrasound on Sunday though and said our doctor will go over it with us at his first appointment next week.

Checking out of the hospital took forever! Both my OBGYN and family doctor came early in the morning and discharged Jay and I and we told the nurse we'd plan on leaving around noon. I took a nice, refreshing shower which felt great after having not done so since Thursday morning. We were just about ready to go at noon when Jay got hungry so of course we had to feed him. We no sooner get started on that when the nurse comes in saying that they found a tech to do Jay's ultrasound (they weren't sure originally if they could get one to come in on a Sunday), so they quickly wheeled him off for that. They brought him back about 20 minutes later, howling the whole way down the hall as his meal was interrupted and he was still hungry! Oops!

After annoying paperwork, after paperwork we finally got out of there around 2pm... so much for noon!

Hubby and I relaxed with Jay at home for the rest of the afternoon, going over to my family's house for the Superbowl.

Loans, jobs, cars, and labor

It's been a busy last couple of days!

Wednesday hubby and I went back to the bank to see where we were at with our credit and getting pre-approved for a home loan.

Well, we're close - VERY close.

If it weren't for stupid Chase we would have gotten it and been signing paperwork for a home-loan on Wednesday ><

We figured out that the problem was that on my credit report, Chase was correctly reporting the balance each month, but on hubby's they hadn't reported it since January so it still showed him with a balance of like $1300 which is NOT what the balance is. So basically, Chase shows up for him, but isn't correctly giving him credit like it is for me, which makes all the difference in the world as with the correct balance on it, hubby's score is just over the 620 that we need it to be to get the loan.

Here's what happened:
I opened the card about a year ago when I started Mary Kay to purchase my inventory and hubby and I had discussed putting him on the card as well so he would have some revolving credit as the bank lady had suggested we do for hubby as he had no revolving credit. Well, we went back to the bank 3-4 months later and met with a guy that time as we couldn't remember the lady's name and couldn't find her card (I found it after the fact) and he said that because the card was so new, it was hurting hubby's credit a lot and that it would be best to take him off that. So I called Chase and requested he be removed. Then we went in this past September and met with the original lady again and it showed that hubby was still on the Chase card, but since it had been almost year, the balance was a lot lower and counts as revolving credit it was actually helping his score - we figured the girl I talked to at Chase was just an airhead and didn't actually take him off when I requested it, but we decided it's working in our favor now so whatever.

So they took his name off the Chase card but reported the $1300 balance that was on it last January when they took him off to the credit bureau and haven't reported any activity in his name since!

Our bank lady said that since it's already under his credit, adding him back on won't hurt his score at this point as all it will do will report him monthly along with me with the updated balance and will help his score.

So I called Chase as soon as I got home and explained it them - they confirmed hubby is not on the card/account and said we could dispute it to get it completely off his credit, but instead I told them just to add him back onto it and they did. They said "big" changes to the account like that would report quarterly, which won't be til January, however it is possible it'll start reporting for him on this cycle.

Regardless, we're just going to wait to go back in in January - hubby's swamped with work in December so we wouldn't even have time to house hunt together.

Hopefully the next time we go in, all will be good and we'll be signing paperwork!

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In other news, The Children's Place called me back on Wednesday - I start Saturday morning, just to go in and do paperwork and that sort of stuff you do on your first day. I'm pretty excited though as I'm looking forward to having something to do and somewhere to be!

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Also, Progressive called us on Wednesday morning to inform us that our car was ready to be picked up and that the rental needed to be returned by 6pm Thursday otherwise we'd have to pay $30 for each additional day.

A little annoyed, as it was a bit last minute and nearly a week earlier than expected, but we were able to figure something out and I drove the 300miles down to St. Louis yesterday with my mom to keep me awake and help with driving on the way back (it's a 4-5hr drive one day, which is A LOT of driving for a preggo lady to do in one day!). I needed to be back in town just after 6pm too as hubby and I had our childbirthing class at 630pm too so we had to leave by 8am to allow enough time. We did it though and the car looks pretty good!

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And as mentioned, we had our 2nd childbirthing class last night.

This portion of the class consisted mainly of going over the different stages of labor. We got to watch several birthing videos - hubby admitted, that's something he probably could have done without ever seeing, as he's not planning on standing near that end of me when Jay pops out, lol...

I don't want to say I'm scared, but ouch! That's going to hurt - I'm not really looking forward to that part!

It was pretty informative though as they explained some more about contractions and that until they're a minute long, 3-5 minutes apart and last like that for at least an hour then we don't really need to rush to the hospital yet and can work on distracting ourselves at home... unless of course my water breaks, then they want us to come in right away.

I'm still not sure about having an epidural vs. natural - I guess I'm leaning more towards natural, although it might hurt more, but yeah... still not decided which is okay as I should have a good 2-3 months still til it's time. We're going to be talking/learning more about epidurals and all that stuff next week.

Well, that one's out...

So the other day I mentioned this house that hubby and I had found online and were curious about since it was in in our estimated price range, in our neighborhood, and seemed to have a lot of what we want in a house.

Well, driving home today, I noticed as we approached the street it's on that there was a "open house" sign and as we passed the street, sure enough, cars were parked out front of the house. Since it was only a little after 3 and the open house went til 4 I suggested we go take a look. Hubby was in a hurry to get home and watch the game though so I hoped in my car and drove over. I also called my mom to let her know, since my dad's in town and he'd like to check out any house we're interested in it just in case he might catch something wrong with it that we might not know or think to look for and can give us their opinion on how much work we might need to do.

So I get over there and look around, taking photos on my Moto Droid as I go so I can show hubby when I get home, and to me it didn't look too bad - very dirty and needed a good thorough cleaning though as I spied multiple spiders and spiderwebs throughout and some of the cabinets in the kitchen would need to be fixed. The basement was full with framework up, but would need to be finished eventually before you would be able to do much with it. The upper deck I was a little hesitant to go up on, as I wasn't sure how sturdy or worn it was and didn't want to take a chance with. Overall though, I didn't think it was too bad but I get what the description meant by "needs 'some' TLC."

My parents stopped by it shortly after I had left - they said it was pretty much a gut job, as the hardwood floors throughout most of it needed to be sanded and shined, the bathrooms needed work as I guess my dad noticed some major problems in them, the linoleum in the kitchen needed to be redo and the floor of the 3 season room would need to be fixed too as it was uneven. They said if we wanted it, that's fine, but they wouldn't offer more than $55k for it due to the amount of work we'd have to put in, and they mentioned that odds are we wouldn't be able to have it ready to move in until after Jay was born and even then, having to fix up the rest as we go could be tough with a newborn.

So I guess, that one's pretty much out.

There's another my mom and I came across online last week too - the price was in the $50k's and it looked like people were still living there which means it can't be too bad, it has a 2 car garage, however it's not attached liked we were hoping to find... the rest of it seemed to have a lot to offer though, so we'll see - we got vacation next week and we plan on going back to the bank in the week after we get back, so hopefully we can get the ball rolling on this here and get things in motion before the holidays and winter hits!

Possible house?

Now that I got you up to date on our home loan woes in the previous post, I can now move forward.

Despite our last trip to the bank regarding a home loan not going quite as well as we were hoping, we know we're extremely close to getting it soon and so we're still staying positive and hopeful (we're just crossing our fingers and praying that those last 2 items report this month like they should).

Hubby and I have been looking online at houses from time to time though. Originally, hubby was hoping to pick up a foreclosure for $50k or less, as a co-worker at UPS had gotten a decent foreclosed home for under $30k! Unfortunately though, all the ones we could find in areas that weren't terrible seemed to require more work than we wanted to do. We started looking online in the $50-65k range, however most of what we were found were either foreclosures needing A LOT of work or smaller homes than what we want.

We don't want to be too picky and we know it's highly unlikely (although not impossible) to find our ideal dream home as we're just starting out and have a budget to stick to, but at the same time we want to find something we won't mind living in for awhile as we both hate moving if we can help it.

Basically, we'd like a house (preferably a ranch-style) with at least 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (although we'd settle for 1 or a 1.5 bath if we had to), a 2 car attached garage, a finished basement or one that could be finished someday, a decent backyard (not huge, but not tiny - we'd like to get a dog someday so it needs to be big enough for a dog to run around in as well as room for Jay to play too), and I would really like room for a dishwasher in the kitchen (I am soooo tired of doing dishes by hand - I hate doing dishes almost as much as I hate cleaning the kitchen and bathroom floors or scrubbing the bathtub!). So far, from what we've seen online, the lowest price range for a house like this in decent shape in a decent area of town is in the upper $60k's through the low $80k's, so we're hoping to find something in the low-mid $70k's. Telling the bank our plan there, the bank lady said that with hubby's current incomes that shouldn't be a problem at all and easily doable.

Looking online today, hubby found a few in our neighborhood/area that didn't sound too bad, although he did include the horrid looking "steeple house" as I call it (for the longest time, I thought this house, which is just around the corner from us, was a small church as the front door has a steeple tower with like a bell tower at the top! Apparently it's actually a house and the inside looks decent from the photos online, however I can't stand the steeple entrance! lol... hubby ruled it out though as it doesn't seem to have a garage whatsoever).

Bored at work, I looked a bit too - the house down off the main street I had been keeping my eye on for awhile (it says it's move in ready and basically seems to have everything we'd want in a house) recently got taken over by a different realtor company as the sign out front changed and apparently the last listing got removed and the only one I can find shows the price going from the $104k it had gotten down to (we were hoping it would get in the $80k range soon) up to $128k!! What the?! Why?! Grrrr

I did come across another house though just down the main street from us that I hadn't seen before. Listed for $70k, it's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath ranch with an attached 2 car garage, and while the address is the main street which can be a bit busy, it has a private drive just off the street which is nice. It says it's sold "As Is" which means it's a foreclosure and it mentioned it needs "some" TLC, so I'm curious as to how much work there is on the inside. I drove past it on my way home today and the backyard didn't look big, but it didn't look too tiny either. There's a white wooden fence along the front which looks a bit worn and I wasn't too crazy about, but we can easily do something about that. It had a really nice front porch though! It also has a deck on the back too and I guess a screened in backporch. I thought about getting closer and looking in the windows, as my dad would do, but I'm not sure if someone is still living there or not, as there were blinds and drapes in the windows! If there's someone still living there though, that makes me think it's not in too bad a shape on the inside though! Oh the page online also said it has a private newer well pump too and it's county taxes (which most houses in our neighborhood are) which looked pretty low compared to some of the houses I've looked up online in our area.

We still have about 3 weeks or so until we're going back to the bank, but I'm hoping maybe this one will still be on the market by the time we get approved and that it turns out to be pretty decent on the inside with no major problems.

The home loan debacle

Since this blog is primarily about having a family of our own, I don't see why I shouldn't mention our home and house hunting stuff here as well, as a house can be a home and a home is where you and your family are.

Hubby and I have been hoping to move into a house for well over a year now.

We currently live in a decent sized 1 bedroom apartment in a pretty decent neighborhood with a great walking/bike path just around the corner from us. Compared to the 1 bedroom apartments I knew of down at college, our place is actually a pretty nice size - we have a full size bathroom, a galley kitchen with a nice big eating area and a huge living/family room; there's multiple closets, including a nice sized walk-in closet in the bedroom, which is also a pretty nice size! We casually joked how if we needed to, we could move the clothes out of the closet and put them elsewhere and turn the walk-in into a nursery if we had to!

Anyways, as I mentioned in the past, we had a plan - we'd get married, hubby would finish his Associates up that semester and then get promoted to full-time at UPS soon after. Then we'd get a house and start trying to have kids. Unfortunately the plans we make for ourselves don't always work out.

The week we were on our honeymoon in Vegas I remember turning on the TV one day while getting ready and they were talking about the stock market crashing and the housing industry crashing - the economy seemed to be going to hell rather quickly!

Since this post could get a bit lengthy, with me bringing you up to date, I'll insert a cut here so it doesn't take up the entire page on my blog!